Improvement in piano-forte actions



UNITED STATES PATENT j OEEICE.

MARTIN HERTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PIANO-FORTE ACTIONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 51,588, dated December19, 1865.

Toall 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN HERTER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have 4invented a certain new and useful Improvement inPiano-Forte Actions; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specication, in which-Figure I represents a longitudinal vertical section of the piano-forteaction with my invention; Fig. II, a horizontal central section of aportion of the same.

Similar letters of reference in both figures indicate correspondingparts.

My improvement relates to that part of a piano-forte action which iscalled the hingebutt,7 (cramp,) and which is intended to bear thehammer, &c. This hinge-butt has so to be made that the movement of thehammer can be regulated without trouble or failure-that is to say, thatthe same, without much handling, Src., can be made moving more or lesseasy, just as may be required, and that the hammer can easily be partedor disjointed from the said butt in case of change or repair. To effectthis several butts have been made for that purpose, and are more or lessin use but none ofthem allows to perform well enough, or even answer inso'me degree what is and must be required. An examination ofthehingebutt most in use will be suiiicient to prove that this is the case.The wooden plug with which the same is provided on the end of theslit,in order to produce, by operatin g with the screw, the necessaryelasticity, does not answer what has been expected-nay, after aproportionally short time, it does not give any eect at all, which willbe easily understood by considering that the wood, having but littleelasticity, opposes at first too much, and after being a short timecompressed does not cause any resistance-at all.

The other hinge-butts, so different as they are from each other, arejust so imperfect for the purpose, which at once will be seen inexamining the same. The consequence of this is that the mechanic has toomuch trouble with these butts. Indeed, without a tedious handling, &c.,he is often not able to regulate the movement of the hammer to change orrepair it.

It has therefore been a constant desire to have such trouble avoided. Todo this is the object of my invention, which I now will proceed todescribe with reference to the annexed drawings.

I manufacture my piano-forte actions according to any of the knownconst-ructions, and apply thereto all the appendages of such actions;butin order to obviate the troubles arising from the imperfect conditionof the hinge-butts, (cramps,) as before fully mentioned, I provide thesebutts on the end of the slit with a metallic spring, as shown in a,Figs. I and Il. This spring I in general prefer to make of steel-such,for example, as is used for the manufacture of writing-pens-and give itgenerally a cylindrical shape, 85o., as may be seen in the drawings, a.

It is evident that such a spring, in consequence of its greatelasticity, must, by operating only with the screws, contract or widenthe said slit constantly and in a most regular manner, and thus thefunctions of the hingebutt will be constantly and perfectly performed.It also will be understood that regulation, change, or repair can beexecuted without the slightest trouble.

Having now fully described my invention, I wish it distinctly understoodthat I do not claim any arrangement on piano-forte actions already knownor used; but

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- rlheapplication of the metallic springs a" in piano-forte actions,for thepurpose substantially described and set forth.

MARTIN HERTER.

Witnesses:

ANG. TEMMEDINGER, JACOB SonEN.

